


When the Stars Lose Their Fire

by Hokuto



Category: Destiny (Video Game)
Genre: Alien Culture, Canonical Character Death, F/F, Gen, Meta, Oral History
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2017-04-08
Updated: 2017-04-08
Packaged: 2018-10-13 09:30:52
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 2
Words: 3,405
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/10511019
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Hokuto/pseuds/Hokuto
Summary: Variks finally tells a Guardian a story.





	1. Chapter 1

**Author's Note:**

  * For [WonderWafles](https://archiveofourown.org/users/WonderWafles/gifts).



> I was so excited to get this assignment because guess who my favorite character and favorite aliens are, just guess. I HOPE YOU ENJOY IT. ♥

You, Guardian. Come here, come quickly. I know you; I know your - scent. You are the one with questions, yes? So many questions. About the Eliksni, about the Whirlwind and the Great Machine.

Today I will tell you a story - if you're willing to listen.

* * *

Long ago, before the Whirlwind, in the days when the Great Machine still guided our world, we had many houses. Not only Exiles and Devils, Kings and Wolves and Winter, but more than even I can name now. Some greater, some lesser, but all strong. All with a kell to lead them, all with an archon to share the wisdom of the Great Machine - and all with scribes of Judgment to keep their history. In this time there was a strong alliance among all these many houses. We did not fight with each other for power or scavenge for little scraps; we did not dock arms for petty crimes. We had peace, and the Great Machine blessed us with its many gifts.

Among the great houses was House of Stone; their kell was Chelchis, who -

But I see you know this name already, Guardian. How?

Later, you say. Good, good. Chelchis was Kell of Stone, and all other kells and houses had much respect for her. She was both strong and wise, and her house prospered under her guidance. She had good counsel as well, when her own wisdom was not enough, for Stone's Archon Priest was Siriks the Learned, who knew much about law and custom.

Siriks was not of Stone at first. She was born for House Judgment, born to House of Rain, and Ulev - that means her father was Judgment and Lovek, her mother was Rain and Urik. No, no, not other Houses - complicated. Will explain another time. Not important now.

How did Siriks come to Stone? Soon after Chelchis became kell, strife rose between Stone and Rain. You are surprised? Should not be. Great Machine blessed us, yes, but it did not change our nature. Archons do not always agree on will of the Great Machine. Old feuds remain. Old ways do not die so quickly. And so when Stone and Rain came into conflict over hunting lands, Chelchis and aging archon of Stone, Nolchis, went alone to meet in an open field under the Great Machine with rash Bresik, Kell of Rain, Rain Archon Irsavik, and Siriks, who was still apprentice to Irsavik then.

Meeting did not go well. Bresik and Irsavik were old, clever, and Chelchis was young to be kell. They thought to intimidate her into giving them all rights to the land, and that weak-hearted Nolchis would bow with her to save her honor and keep his position.

But Chelchis would not bow. She argued for sharing the hunting lands, as was just, and refused to back down.

This angered Bresik, who never knew the worth of patience, and he drew blades against her. Irsavik, loyal to her kell, joined him, but Nolchis feared to fight and crouched low in the long grass. So Chelchis stood alone against them, without weapons, and though she was strong she could not hope to defeat them both. And still she would not bow. Looked very bad for Chelchis, yes?

But Siriks sprang forward to throw herself between Chelchis and Rain's leaders. Irsavik refused to strike at her own student, and Siriks spoke with sharp words for Bresik. "What is this madness?" she asked him. "Have you lost all reason, all wisdom? Would you dishonor yourself and your house in the very shadow of the Great Machine? What shame you bring to Rain, threatening one who is unarmed and seeking justice!"

The light of the Great Machine was with her, since she spoke in true judgment, and so Bresik's hot head burned and he lowered his blades.

Chelchis began to thank Siris for her aid, but she had not finished with Bresik yet. "I could never serve a kell with such deception in his hearts," she said. "I will be Houseless, first." She was rash too, you see - though in those days, House was not so important. Our world was softer, life was easier, and many had no House and suffered nothing for it, or moved between Houses only because they wished to.

"Then be Houseless," said Bresik, turning his back to her, and though Irsavik hesitated, she turned away, too.

Siriks wavered then, for it was still a hard thing for her to leave her House and her apprenticeship behind, but Chelchis said, "You need not be Houseless long." She took the archon's mantle from cowardly Nolchis and sent him home alone in disgrace, since he had no courage to stand with her, though she was merciful and did not exile him from their House.

Chelchis said then, "You will always be welcome in Stone," and offered the mantle to Siriks, but Siriks refused, saying, "I cannot be your archon. My training is not complete, and you know nothing of me."

"I know that you are wise enough to earn the Great Machine's blessing," said Chelchis, "and brave enough to speak against your kell when you see injustice. What more could I want in an archon?"

Then Siriks accepted the mantle and the two clasped hands as bond, and so Siriks became Stone Archon. Still had to study Stone's laws on journey back.

For many years Chelchis and Siriks led Stone together, as our world prospered, and always their minds and hearts were one. Rare to see them parted from each other. Together they earned great honor. Hunted mighty beasts to protect their House, shared their wisdom when it was needed, ruled with justice. They became - what is your word for it? No, more than friend. Not sisters, not kin. Lovers, yes, that's it. Not common for kell and archon, not now when all are at odds, but in those days... No matter.

Once we had many songs of their deeds. Many songs, many stories, to teach us to be wise and brave, to be heroes. Lost now. But House Judgment remembers. Only a few, but we remember...

* * *

Your friends are calling you, Guardian. Go to them, go, go.

More? Yes, yes, I will tell you more. Another time. Soon. Now go.

* * *

No friends today? Not fighting, Guardian?

The story, yes. I know many stories - Chelchis, again? You are very curious about her. Then I'll tell you of Chelchis and the Whirlwind.

* * *

So. What you already know... Before the Whirlwind, House of Stone was strong, and all were happy, all flourished, as years gave their leaders greater wisdom.

And one day we woke, and the Great Machine was not there.

At first we thought it could not go far. We called across the world, but it did not hang above a new city. We boarded our starships and flew through our system to search the other planets, but we did not find it. It had left us.

Then every House and city was torn. Why did it abandon us? we asked each other. Had we offended it? Had we shamed it? We were a young race still when it found us, and not so advanced in technology or understanding. It had given us so much, perhaps it left because it had no more to give.

We had no answers, and without the Great Machine, our world grew colder again, harsher, as the ether that warmed the air and strengthened us failed. Soon Houses fell to fighting for the best lands, as we did in the old days, and blaming former enemies for the Great Machine's flight.

But this was not the Whirlwind, not yet, and Chelchis and Siriks rallied their House and called for an end to the fighting, for the Houses to come together to seek the Machine. "If the Great Machine left of its own will," Chelchis said, "we still are owed a reason, and we must find it and have its answer."

"And if it fled some enemy," said Siriks, "better for us to flee and follow it, for how could we hope to stand against such an enemy, unless we are united and have the Great Machine's aid?"

Not all Houses agreed, but many who respected Stone and its leaders believed one or the other of their arguments. And so we began to build our ships, not to explore, but to be our new homes: our ketches, armored and filled with all we would need, with new machines to create fresh ether and servitors to pilot. We had begun, under the Great Machine, to lay aside our weapons except at need; now all took them up again, even House Judgment, and we made them stronger with everything we had learned.

And as we built, as we prepared, as we worked together, hope returned to us; and on its heels came the Whirlwind.

What was the Whirlwind, Guardian? What was your Collapse? You don't know? Neither do we. Too much, too fast, too destructive.

It was despair and doubt, eating our strength. It was madness slithering into our machines and our minds. It was rot and rust where none should be. And it was Hive in their dark tombships, a plague of thrall and wizards and knights marching in hosts, and ruin with them.

Some Houses - very few - fled at the first attack, if they had a ketch ready, and ran in any direction they could. Where they went, even Judgment doesn't know, for none ever heard of them again. Most fought, though many were lost. We had never seen such weapons before, or the wicked magic of the Deep, but still we fought.

Chelchis and Siriks and Kell of Kings, Yaris, led their Houses in a charge against the Hive's landing and drove them back to their ships for a short time, but Siriks lost her upper left arm, and Yaris fell to a knight's sword and her cousin Grayvik became new Kings' Kell. In this brief peace, every remaining House's leaders gathered at the Great Machine's last resting place to decide what should be done next. By far the greater part now believed Siriks, that without the Great Machine we could not stand against the Dark, and that we had to flee to survive and fight.

Here, for the first time in their many years together, Chelchis and Siriks were at odds, for Chelchis wanted to lead another charge against the Hive. "It may be that it is these monsters who took the Great Machine," she argued, "and we must rescue it from their grasp if we can. Or they may hunt it and know where it has gone, and we can take that knowledge from them in battle."

"To fight them again is madness," said Siriks, and many other archons and kells agreed. "We do not have the strength. We must not waste our lives and our ships in such foolishness, but go, before more fall."

Though it filled her with sorrow to say such words to Siriks, Chelchis said, "Then I will lead those of Stone or any other House who wish to follow me, and you must take the rest to search for the Great Machine. I ask only that you welcome those of us who survive to your House, and do not turn us away for our foolishness; but it is not my nature to turn my back to battle and give up on our home."

Siriks grieved, too, to part from Chelchis, but she knew Chelchis's nature well and loved her the more for it, and would not argue against her decision. They clasped hands and touched their heads together, and they left the meeting: Siriks to gather the other Houses and their ketches to seek the Great Machine, Chelchis to rally those who would fight the Hive.

A great number chose Siriks and flight, but many chose to follow Chelchis, as well. A fine host of warriors from every House, with the strongest weapons and armor that could be found: ten thousand from House Rain, five thousand from Winter, five thousand from Devils, thirty thousand from brash Wolves, a thousand from Kings who had already lost too many to the Hive, ten thousand more from the good-natured House of Summer, six thousand from cool-headed Mist, three thousand from -

Too much? Perhaps. It is a long list, those who fought the Whirlwind. Enough for you to know that many other Houses sent their people to fight with Chelchis, and over half of Stone's strength remained with her, too.

Chelchis in her wisdom sent companies to guard the launch sites for the ketches as the Hive renewed their attack, and they fought claw and teeth and howled with triumph as each ship rose to the sky. Some were lost, overwhelmed by Hive, and Chelchis mourned each loss as if they were her own House, her own ketch. Still, none gave ground without struggle, and none fell without taking many Hive with them into death's maw.

Stone's ketch flew last, and there the fighting was hard indeed, for the Hive were furious that so many Eliksni had escaped their hunger. But brave Chelchis never slowed in her attack, her blades sharp and flashing as she cut through all thrall, all acolytes, all knights and wizards that would try to seize her ketch and devour Siriks. Oh, there are still songs of her might in battle, Guardian, songs of her strength and her wrath, even among those who have Fallen. Those songs lived. She had always been a mighty warrior, but now, with all at stake, she was magnificent.

At last all other ketches had gathered in orbit, prepared for the bitter journey ahead, and the engines of Stone's ketch burned as the Hive fell back under Chelchis and Stone's renewed onslaught. Slowly the great ship rose above the smoke of battle; its hull was clean, its lights were bright, and as it grew smaller with distance Chelchis cried out with joy, knowing that Siriks would be safe, and she turned to press the attack again, so that her remaining forces could reach the warships and begin their assault on the Hive's fleet.

Then the captain fighting on her right fell to a thrall swarm. She was in grave danger, with no one to guard her flank - but a blade she knew better than her own sliced through the thrall, and Siriks stepped forward to fill the gap.

Chelchis's hearts rose at the sight of her, but sorrow struck her as well, and she said, "Why have you come back? I wanted you to be free of this fight, far away from these monsters. Who will lead Stone now?"

"I gave my archon's mantle to soft-spoken Arrik, and piloting coordinates to our servitor," Siriks said. "But you are my Kell, now and always. How could I leave you to face the Dark alone? If this is our end, I would face it with you."

Together they struck down a knight that thought to catch them unwary, and together they drove the Hive back from the warships, and in the quiet, before boarding their ship, they embraced.

Above our world, the Hive waited, in numbers we could not imagine. A thousand thousand tombships, a thousand thousand fighting ships, and out of them like a mountain rose the Dreadnaught of Oryx. Against its bulk Chelchis's small fleet seemed like tiny insects swarming a wolf. Yet as we watched from the ketches, Chelchis and Siriks flew their ship against it, and all the fleet followed their charge, and while they struck at the Hive's ships, the Hive ignored the ketches.

So we fled the Whirlwind, and lived. But Chelchis and Siriks and all who fought with them were lost, and we do not know how they met their end, for none came to rejoin their House; and Oryx and his Dreadnaught survived to trouble us all, even now, even here.

* * *

How do I know these stories, you ask? I am the last scribe of Judgment. Must know all Houses, all histories. And my ancestors were scribes for Stone. Returned to House Judgment with records just before Chelchis's last charge. History of Stone is history of my family, too.

So. You knew Chelchis. Knew her name. How did you learn of her?

What is it, this weapon? Dark and strange. It reeks of Hive. Yet there is something. A voice, an echo...

Ai. So this is what the Taken King made of brave Chelchis, in the end.

... a gift?

You honor me, Guardian. A great honor, to bear the remains of Stone's Kell - but no. I am only a humble scribe, a servant, a warden. Not a warrior.

No, Guardian. Keep her. Carry her into battle against the Hive and let her claim her revenge. Perhaps the Great Machine will see, and remember that we are not all Fallen.

Perhaps you will bring me new stories of Chelchis, hero.


	2. Ghost Fragment: Appendix - Some Notes on the Eliksni

_Eliksni Family Structures_ : After further questioning of subject, it appears that the Eliksni have a kinship system of four groups, with members of two "opposite" groups producing young of a third group, although which third group is determined by a variable which subject did not explain. The groups are called Ulev, Urik, Lovek, and Lorik; the acceptable pair bonds are Ulev + Lorik and Urik + Lovek, with the former producing either Urik or Lovek young and the latter producing either Ulev or Lorik young. All members of each group are considered relatives to some degree, and thus intra-group sexual relationships are forbidden as incest.

I was unable to determine whether descent was matrilineal, patrilineal, or based upon some other factor. Subject stated that while this four-group system is currently used by all Houses in the solar system, other group systems with different names once existed among other Houses. The current standardization of the kinship system is most likely due to pre-Whirlwind alliances spreading a system used by the most influential Houses, combined with the overall loss of earlier, more diverse traditions during the Whirlwind and flight from the Darkness. It is apparently customary for small patrols to consist of members of the same kinship group in order to encourage cooperation and mutual defense.

Regarding inter-House relationships (now rare to nonexistent, according to subject), House membership is determined by the mother in most cases, although exceptions may occur depending on which parent most desires to raise the young.

_Eliksni Reproduction_ : Subject was not forthcoming on this topic, despite numerous reassurances of strict confidentiality and that no identifying information would be attached to subject. Subject claimed that it is "Not a matter for Guardians."

~~I guess it's true that nobody would believe me if I said I learned it all from some random vandal on the Forgotten Shore~~ \- Ghost, delete the last line from that recording.

_Pre-Whirlwind Eliksni History_ : From some of subject's statements, I believe that when the Traveler visited the Eliksni, they were still primarily a pre-industrial culture (cf. "Chelchis and the Whirlwind," 8-9, attached). Before the Traveler, the Houses were still the primary form of large-scale social structure, with kells functioning as something like elected kings; further details from subject seem to indicate that when the Traveler arrived, they had not yet achieved any form of spaceflight, and the Houses were only beginning to reach out to each other and form alliances rather than fighting, hence the slow pace of technological development. Subject also was of the opinion that it was in this pre-Traveler period that House Judgment first rose to prominence. As a small House without attachments or previous history of feuding with other Houses, it could make itself useful as a neutral negotiator between the larger Houses, as well as helping settle differences in law or custom and keeping general records.

With the Traveler's arrival, of course, everything changed. The House structure appears to have remained in place due to tradition, but became looser and more flexible, with an increase in inter-House relationships and mobility, as well as independent communities and settlements with no House affiliation. Whether the Traveler influenced the Eliksni directly with its power, or indirectly by means of increasing natural resources and accelerating their technological growth, its presence seems to have led to a decreased stigmatization of -

What? What are you laughing at?

Look, I'm simply trying to be precise and objective, and that means using the appropriate terminology for -

I do not sound like Toland. Shut up.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Fic title from "The Sacrifice" by Symphony X, Paradise Lost album.


End file.
